Women of the Regency: Maria Fitzherbert

Talk about making an enemy of your father-in-law...

Maria Fitzherbert had been twice widowed by the time she met young prince George IV in 1784. The future monarch was 22 and she was 28. George was immediately infatuated with the colorful, independent Maria and pursued her as his royal mistress.

While most young women would be honored to catch the eye of such a powerful future ruler, Maria pressed for nothing less than marriage. Unlikely, right?

Not so with our impetuous young Prinny. In the drawing room of her house on Park Street on December 15, 1785, Maria and George were wed,with her uncle and brother serving as witnesses.

News of the secret marriage did not go over well with the royal family--partly because, well, it was a secret, but mostly because of a little law known as the "Royal Marriages Act of 1772" which required the king's approval for any marriage to a member of the royal family younger than 25 years old. Oh, and she was Catholic. A big no-no apparently with George the elder.

The union was nullified and the bride was sent away (or "put away") out of sight somewhere in the outskirts of London. The prince as forced to marry a peach of a princess named Caroline of Brunswick in 1795, producing one daughter, a future princess Charlotte. To say Caroline and George did not get on well is an understatement, proven by the fact that as soon as a child was born, George returned to live with his "secret wife" in 1800. George and Caroline never lived together again in their 25-year marriage.

According to his personal correspondence, the marriage was only consummated three times: twice on their wedding night and once more the night after.

"It required no small effort to conquer my aversion and overcome the disgust of her person," he wrote. Oh, snap.

The tale of Maria and George did not go on forever, sadly, and their relationship came to an end in 1811. But it's been said that she remained a close personal friend of George through the rest of their lives (he died in 1830, she in 1837) and throughout their romance, she turned the other cheek and was not bothered by his many dalliances with royal mistresses, including the Countess of Jersey (worth a post of her own!) and Lady Hertford.

Upon George's death, his brother, the new king William IV offered her a dukedom as recompense for the difficulties she suffered at the hands of his family. She declined, stating: 'she had borne through life the name of Mrs. Fitzherbert; that she had never disgraced it and that she did not wish to change it."

Theirs was a story of young love that could not last forever, but managed to grow into a lifelong friendship. Maria died at the age of 80 in Brighton.